Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show

So off we went on Friday afternoon. Good job it's indoors, it was bucketing it down. Sarah and I had originally planned to go, and Baldeesh, from out knitting group decided to come at the last minute. Good job she did, she fed us! She kept saying, 'I know, I have children, you need to bring a picnic on a car journey'! 'Have an apple', 'Have a banana', 'Have a cheese sandwich', 'Go on, have some Pringles'! She's AMAZING!

Anyway, we also met up with the lovely Prrrl (technically, Kat) from Knitty. It was a shame we couldn't stay longer. She was super friendly with an amazing grin!

Here's my (mini) haul.

Firstly, some beautiful silk from knitshop.co.uk. You should definately try them. Their website is a bit higgledy piggledy and some words have got lost in translation. I can't vouch for their mail order but the products are gorgeous. They also had one of the best looking stalls at the show. The whole show was a bit disappointing. I had hoped to see Colinette Jitterbug, Lorna's Laces, that kind of thing. A bit too much novelty yarn. Maybe we were in a rush and missed stuff. It would have been nice to stop and talk to people too. Next year I'll make the effort to go to London. Anyway, silk. I bought two hanks, for about £9 each. One is a dk weight and has 300m! The other is an aran weight. The paler one is going to be combined with some orangey hipknits silk for a scarf, the other, who knows!

Also shown above are some handmade ceramic buttons for Pat at the group.

I am quite excited about this fabric though. I am told that it was from the end of a bolt from Paul Smith. Only £4 per metre! Whether it is PS or not doesn't matter, it's lovely, woven cotton shirting and will make PJ bottoms for James for Christmas. That sounds like he's 85, but hopefully they will turn out like this. Do you think we'll be transported to a beautiful beach house like that too?? I quite fancy a matching pair, but Sarah threatened never to talk to me again if we started wearing his and hers!

You got me Annie!

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Waitress
2. P.A
3. Finance Office Dogsbody
4. Barmaid

B) Four movies I would watch over and over
1. Lost in Translation
2. Pearl Harbor
3. Hocus Pocus
4. Four Weddings and a Funeral

C) Four places I have lived
1. Nottingham
2. London
3. Rural Leicestershire
4. ........

D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Eastenders - what will it be like without Pauline!
2. Friends
3. Antiques Roadshow (!!)
4. Invasion

E) I have been on vacation:
1. France
2. America
3. Thailand
4. Australia

F) Websites visited daily:
1. Knitty Forum
2. Blogs at right (and a whole load I'm meaning to add!)
3. Google
4. email

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Crumpets
3. Cherries
4. Starbucks Very Berry Scones

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. At Sally's holiday place in France
2. On my sofa with James and the Kitties, knitting
3. Lying in the sun on my bed, napping
4. Riding

I) Four people I’m tagging with this questionnaire:
1. Scary Bez
2. Linda (of twopinkpossums)
3. Lilith
4. Liz (of everwhelming)

I really shouldn't have admitted to half those things. 'Antiques Roadshow' I hear you laugh! You know you love it!

What I did with my Saturday.

I had a busy Saturday. I sat and knitted a little pouch for my Mother in Law's birthday. I filled it with her favourite chocolate covered ginger. If you read my post on Knitty, you'll realise why I needn't have bothered. Anyway, I enjoyed knitting it, and it was vaguely appreciated. I think next time, I'd knit in in finer yarn, with a taller portion above the drawstring. I had adapted it from a pattern on scrumptious living's blog. The pattern suggests a picot bind off which is lovely and a knitted drawstring. Neither I had time to do. I was pleased though with my twisted yarn drawstring, a mega-quick alternative. Thank you Seven for pointing me toward the pattern.

I've just noticed that you may be interested to see Ted's attire too. He is wearing a jumper my mum knitted maybe 20 years ago? It matched one that she made for me. Its actually a lovely pattern, with moss stitch cuffs, yoke and hem. She used up all her odds and sods for the middle section for mine and ted's.

This is the other thing I did on Saturday.

I chopped all Monty's hair off! Remind me next time that I really shouldn't wait until November to clip him. His hair is so thick and long by now that the clippers struggle to get through it. At one stage a had a panic that I was going to have to leave him half clipped. It really wouln't have been a good look. Especially for Monty who is concious of these things. Someone even described him this morning as being a 'Womaniser'. And at the grand old age of 17. Doesn't he look cute with a short back and sides though? Although I don't think he's terribly impressed, it means he now has to wear his PINK pj's!

And this is the Blue Sky Cotton mentioned in the previous post. Yummy!

So you wanna see Yarn on this knitting blog!!??

Well, here it is!

Whilst in New York we visited three Yarn shops. The first was Seaport Yarn, in the Wall Street area. I was told by some Knittyheads, that it was a must, just to see the bizarre location. So, we went to the address that I had, and couldn't find it anywhere. We went into the building (and office block) given as the address. The front desk guy said we had to sign in. 'We're just looking for Seaport Yarn' I said. 'That's fine' He said, they have the whole fifth floor!'. So up we went in the lift. And when I say this place is bizarre, I mean, this place is bizarre.

One of the ladies (co-owner?) met us at the door and showed us where everything is. It is literally room after room, after corridor of yarn. I've never seen anything like it. Mum bought some Blue Heron something or other and some Garnstudio SilkeTweed. Mum, Fan and J got bored after about an hour (although Fan got some photos of J reading Knitting books!) and went to Starbucks. This is what I bought (also not shown, are some items that I have left out for SP security reasons, a chibi and Vogue Holiday 2006).

Firstly, some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in colourway Irving Park. I love love love this yarn. I've only got as far as a tension sqaure, but it's beautiful. Soft, but with a cotton-like sheen. Just awesome. I'll buy this again.

This is Noro Lily, which I have never seen before, a blend of Solk and Cotton. Again, lovely. I'm going to make another Icarus type scarf (because I wear the current one all the time!) as I'd like one with a bit of sheen.

Later that day (it was J's birthday, he was MEGA patient considering!) we found the Point, which to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with. It's a lovely shop though, and had we not stopped at a bar five doors down for drinks and fries we would have had tea and cupcakes. Next we went to Purl, which was a bit busy to fully appreciate. They also have an overload of Sheperd Sock, I thought, and it's all a bit pricey. Howver, I fell in love with Blue Sky Cotton, and I bought two skeins, one purple one grey for a scarf. It's so soft!! Blogger is not playing ball, and won't post these photos. Maybe later.....

Altogether the trip was sucessful, yarn wise. Mum and Fan stumbled across the Yarn Tree in Brooklyn, and bought me a really lovely tote (which was lucky because my suitcase was overflowing on the way back!) with their signature tree on the side, and a copy of Interweave Holiday 2006.

Continued.......

*Please read the next post first!!*

Also on the same topic, we went to Ellis Island, to the American Museum of Immigration, viewing Liberty Island on the way. This is what Hilda would have seen first!

The reception building is so impressive. I got a copy of the Ship's Manifest that brought her over. One of the curators told me that she was second class, therefore may not have come through Ellis Island, as these passengers were pre-approved and went straight to Manhattan. It's nice to know that she went over in relative comfort. She left her parents (in Derby - 20 miles from where I live now), but was born in London, (just like me!). How odd to go from living with your parents, to moving thousands of miles to get married (my great grandfather paid her passage) at just 20. Amazing.



This post is for you Great Grandma Hilda!

New York New York!

We're back! And we had an awesome time. I have lots of photos, including lots of yarn-related! Its going to take me some time to show them to you, so today I'll start with the highlight of my trip. When I have good light to take photos that do my new yarn justice, I'll post them.
We were staying in Tribeca, in downtown Manhattan, which was perfect. However, next time, I'd stay in Brooklyn. We fell in love with the Heights, the first bit you get to if you go over Manhattan or Brooklyn bridges. Mum and Fan went off to have a wander about (and found the Yarn Tree!). James and I walked down to Bay Ridge, it took about an hour. These are some nice, typical, buildings we saw on the way. We stopped for cream cheese and smoked salmon bagels on the way. The man behind the counter was baffled, until we realised we needed to ask for 'Spread and Lox'!!






Bay Ridge is a strongly Hispanic, less wealthy area (in comparison to Manhattan) in South West Brooklyn. It seems to have an amazing spirit and strong community. It is also where my Grandfather was born (to British parents) in 1917. Firstly, we went to the address where his parents lived at the time (or at least the address he has from letters from the time). They lived in several addresses in the same row of buildings, for several years, with close relatives. This is it!

Secondly, we went to the church where my great-grandparents got married in 1912, St Micheal RC church. Now, I am not religious at all, but I can appreciate how stunning this church is. Built in 1903, it would have been relatively modern then. They must have been terribly proud of it. The inside has beautiful mosaic floors and painted ceilings, with so much gold! It is unbelievably huge, with massive ceilings! I desperately wish I had photos, but Mass was in progress when we got there, so it wasn't possible. This part of Brooklyn would have been predominantly farm land then, so I suppose these buildings were significant.



Across the road is now a Police Station, but presumably would have been there, if very new. It is the first thing they would have seen coming out of the church!

Blogger can't cope with too many photos so this will be continued above...........

I'm finally blocking..

So I've finally gotten around to blocking my Little Icarus Shawl. Go me. I've been wearing it all the time since I finished it. It was a good oppertunity to Febreeze it too, it was starting to smell like cats. Anyway, it's made a massive difference, the pattern shows a lot more clearly. I really should be less lazy in future. Usually I'm an iron it and be done with it girl. To be fair, I thought wet-blocking a DK scarf wouldn't have the same effect as if it was lace weight, as the original pattern.

I know, I should have finished the socks by now. I nearly have. To be fair I spent the weekend finishing mum's cardy, which now has just to be sewn up. Both projects need to be finished by Thursday, or I'm in trouble. I bought a lovely box to give Mum her cardy in, is that a bit OTT? It's a box she can keep using for something else afterwards.

So, here's some Guy Fawkes' fireworks for you. We went to Boots' (as in The Chemist) display on Friday with Gem and Chris, Laura and Judge and Harry. Poor Harry was being matchmaked with a random too, I don't think he really noticed though, bless. I was trying out the 'Firework' function on my camera. I'm sure it's not called that, but it worked quite well.

I'm having a sock yarn moment

Here are some photos of recent sock yarn acquisitions, for your viewing pelasure. They are not great photos and I apologise. There is a sunlight deficiency in our house at the moment. Get up in the dark, go home in the dark, grumble grumble grumble........

Firstly, this is Knitpicks sock garden in Zinnia, from a swap with JamieKate from Knitty. This is for socks for dad for christmas. Since he's the type to buy white socks and dye them pink/orange/red/blue on purpose. And James wonders why I'm slightly eccentric.

And this is Fyberspates sock yarn in blue/green/yellow. It's lovely and it was on sale but I have a small rant, and I've put it here. Save me writing it again.


If I don't post on Monday, a picture of J's finished socks, will someone come and beat me around the head??!!